On the Way to Globalization

Throughout the 1990s, regionalism constituted one of the major driving forces in the Russian transformation process. However, contrary to initial hopes that it would become a locomotive for economic development, regionalism has in many respects hampered the economic development of the regions and their ability to adapt to Russia's new global environment, as regional political elite have sought to use administrative levers to maintain political power. The authors argue that information and capital actors, such as business elites, the mass media, think tanks and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have instead become the key agents of globalization in Russia. Yet, they point out that in response to the challenge posed by these actors the regions have begun to develop networking (horizontal) strategies aimed at building coalitions with the new actors, alongside administrative (vertical) strategies. The authors therefore conclude that the future model of federalism in Russia could be described as administrative strategies plus networking.